Memory Toy Analog Delay
Reviewed by:
BeefWellington, on january 31, 2011 0 of 0 people found this review helpful

Ease of Use: This pedal is about as simple as it gets. Just three controls, everything you need and nothing you don't.

Delay: Change the delay time from 30ms to 550ms.Blend: Change between 100% dry signal or 100% wet delayed signal.Feedback: Select the amount of repeats. A high setting will cause the pedal to self-oscillate.

The manual is 1 simple page that pretty much states the obvious. This little bit of kit is incredibly simple to use, and I was getting the perfect sounds I wanted within 10 seconds of plugging it in, and I've never even used a delay pedal before. // 10

Sound: I play and Epiphone Les Paul Standard through a no-name practise amp. True bypass, so when disengaged you never even notice it's there. When you whack this bad boy on, it produces an beautiful rich delay sound. You can easily recreate pretty much anything you want with this, or even create some of your own sounds. There is absolutely mountains of delay available.

There really is a massive amount of sounds you can achieve with this pedal. The modulation Switch produce a really nice, warbly almost eerie detuned chorus kind of effect that adds a kick and is a excellent touch. The sky is the limit.

The effects are perfect for me, however the self-ocsillation is not a particularly pleasing noise to my ears. That is the only complaint I have, the rest of this bit of gear gives me an eargasm.

The blend control can sometimes be a bit tricky when you want to get your perfect sound, as sometimes you can either over saturate your signal or not put enough in. However, with time you get used to it and can quickly edit the controls. // 9

Reliability & Durability: It's a solid (but small!) metal brick. It's pretty lightweight but the casing is robust and feels like it would last a very long time. I haven't owned it long enough to judge it's durability fully, but it seems to be well built. If I were to gig, I would definitely use this. // 8

Overall Impression: I play all sorts, rock, metal, indie, whatever, and you can dial in an appropriate effect for any of these. You can recreate the echo of an arena or even a pseudo-reverb effect and anything in between. I would definitely buy another one if it got lost or nicked.

I checked out several other delay pedals by MXR, digitech, Boss, etc, and none of them really made me think "I want you". A lot of them were either over priced (*cough* MXR *cough*) or too complicated (*cough* Boss *cough*) for me. This one had exactly what I wanted at the cheapest price. This is amazing value for money.

I love everything about it, my favourite feature being the modulation switch purely for the extra versatility it gives me. It's got everything a delay pedal needs, no more, no less. I thoroughly reccommend this bit of gear if you want a simple, cheap, great sounding delay. // 9

I just got one - I tested it against the MXR Carbon Copy and the delay is very similar (the Carbon Copy sounds a little bit darker i think, but very close). The one feature of the Carbon Copy that seemed to stand out is the MOD switch which gives a much nicer effect than the Memory Toy. What they don't mention on the EH site is that YOU CAN ADJUST THE MEMORY TOYS MODULATION BY OPENING IT UP! by adjusting TRIM8 (a trimpot) you can turn down the MOD depth from its extremely high (almost unusable in some cases) factory setting. By turning TRIM8 clockwise about 90' the Memory Toy suddenly starts giving the Carbon Copy a run for its money, and at a much smaller price!
So if you test one of these out don't be put off by the rough MOD setting, you can dial it in yourself later!

If you want a great affordable analog delay this pedal is for you. I researched a lot and went through many delay pedals, my final choices were EHX memory boy and this one, I finally decided to go with the toy since it's cheaper and the sound is just as good.
I currently have it paired with my other EHX pedal, little big muff, and I gotta say they make a fantastic pair.
PS: Remember to open it up and adjust the modulation gain since the factory settings is on max which makes the sound unbearable using it straight out of the box.